Hello-



Mark Branstner, Dwayne Scheid, and I are organizing a symposium on Midwest
urban archaeology, tentatively entitled “*Exploring the Complexity of
Midwest Urban Life through Historical Archaeology*,” for the 2014 Midwest
Archaeological Conference at the University of Illinois taking place from
October 2nd to the 4th (
http://www.midwestarchaeology.org/annual-meeting/upcoming-meetings
<https://webmail.illinois.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=khPtx_CMDUCVFD3aztM3Pz5kTB5GTdEI2vIfCEooNqby7RAtJgMW75iQQQdur2NyGZKOVDyaYpY.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.midwestarchaeology.org%2fannual-meeting%2fupcoming-meetings>).




If you have conducted historical archaeology research of cities in the
Midwest, or on artifact assemblages from Midwest urban sites, and are
interested in presenting a paper at the symposium, please contact Mark (
[log in to unmask]), Dwayne ([log in to unmask]), or me (
[log in to unmask]
<https://webmail.illinois.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=khPtx_CMDUCVFD3aztM3Pz5kTB5GTdEI2vIfCEooNqby7RAtJgMW75iQQQdur2NyGZKOVDyaYpY.&URL=mailto%3asasso%40uwp.edu>).
The tentative symposium abstract is below.



Please pass this invitation on to any of your colleagues that might have an
interest in participating, or please let us know of other persons that we
should be contacting. Thanks!



Claire



*Symposium Abstract:*



As a region, the nineteenth century Midwest is typically represented as
largely rural and agricultural, with small, predominantly mercantile
communities. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however,
many of these smaller communities had taken up new urban, industrialized
economies that took advantage of improved transportation networks linking
them with the national economy, and offered employment opportunities to
both recent immigrants and excess labor derived from an increasingly
mechanized agrarian economy. This new environment had a profound effect on
social and spatial organization, and mirrored ongoing changes in material
culture availability, consumer choice, and domestic refuse disposal.
Although often a neglected research area in the Midwest until recently,
urban historical archeology has shown significant potential to provide
substantive new information about the plurality and increasing complexity
of the lives of the people who lived and worked in these emerging urban
environments.




*Claire Dappert, PhD*

Historic Archaeologist

Illinois State Archaeological Survey

American Bottom Field Station

144C East Ferguson

Wood River, IL 62095

Phone (618) 251-3922

E-mail [log in to unmask]